Stock markets have climbed to record highs. Unemployment — particularly in Iowa — is sinking to its lowest levels in nearly two decades. And thousands more Iowans are working than in previous years.

But how much are Iowa workers benefiting from the robust economy?

New evidence shows that while wages are rising, inflation is eating up much of that growth. As a result, many workers' spending power is stagnant, and the lowest-paid workers may even be losing ground.

"I think in Iowa and nationally the big story of the last 18 months is that the economy is booming without bringing up wages," said Colin Gordon, a senior research consultant at the Iowa Policy Project.

"That’s especially true in Iowa, where we’ve got an unemployment rate that’s hovering below 3 percent, but it doesn't seem to be giving workers much bargaining power with wages."

Here's a closer look at how the economy is performing in Iowa and the U.S. — and how it affects you.

Iowa's unemployment rate reaches 18-year low

In July, Iowa's unemployment rate hit an 18-year low of 2.6 percent. Only North Dakota had a lower rate.

The 1.64 million working Iowans in July represented an increase of 13,200 workers over the previous year, according to Iowa Workforce Development.

Since July 2017, Iowa has added 19,000 jobs, with more than half of those gains at factories statewide.

Indeed, Iowa now has more advertised job openings than people on the unemployment rolls.

That dynamic has left employers across the spectrum — from fast-food establishments to advanced manufacturing facilities to financial service firms — scrambling to hire and retain workers.

Iowa incomes at a crawl

When Iowa State University economist Dave Swenson analyzed state earnings data in 2017, he declared it a "disappointment."

This year, he sees some brighter news: Iowans' average weekly wages improved last year when adjusted for inflation. But only by .08 percent.

"On average, there is some rise in pay beyond inflation, but not much, especially given the very low unemployment rates in much of the state," Swenson said. "I guess I would call it an expected result, given the overall stagnation in much of the state’s rural economy and the depressed farm sector."

Swenson said a generation of retiring Baby Boomers is also likely affecting earnings data across the board.

"A lot of the people exiting the labor force are people like me, people in their 60s," he said. "They're in their peak earning years and the people replacing them are going to be earning a lot less."

The most recent data on Iowa's household incomes shows families are struggling to keep up with the rising costs of consumer goods. In 2016, the average Iowa household earned $59,094, compared with $60,156 in 2013, according to Federal Reserve Economic Data.

Iowa's rich continue to accumulate wealth

While income and wage data seem to improve, those averages can mask trends on opposite ends of the earning spectrum.

In other words, low- and high-income wage earners aren't seeing the same benefits.

Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows the top 10 percent of Iowa earners saw their real wages increase more than 12 percent since 2001. Conversely, the bottom 10 percent of wage earners only realized a 2.5 percent increase over that time.

In 2016, 8,710 Iowa tax filers reported adjusted gross incomes of more than $1 million. While they represent about half of 1 percent of all the state's tax filers, those Iowans pulled in about 36 percent of the state's total personal income.

That figure was up from about 30 percent in 2010, according to revenue department data.

Over the same time period, the share of income going to the bottom half of Iowans — those reporting incomes of $40,000 or less annually — shrank from 22.5 percent in 2010 to just over 8 percent in 2016.

The bottom line? Iowa's economy may be surging, but your bottom line probably isn't feeling it.